Here's a new report, nearly five weeks later:

Lake Benbrook looks like someone pulled the plug. Perhaps two-thirds of Rocky Creek is dried up. Take a look at this map:




Almost all the water to the left of the boat ramp at the center of the map is GONE! There was a cow grazing on the mud flats just above the "C" in "courtesy dock". Many more tree stumps are visible than is normally the case; most of them are normally ten feet below the surface. The little cove next to the Marina is almost bone dry, with just a few feet of water in the "No Wake Zone". The most interesting thing (to me) is that there is an old road or perhaps a temporary dam extending completely across Rocky Creek, just to the right of the central boat ramp.

When I saw this, I stood on the old shoreline, staring for five minutes in stunned amazement.

Brett,

Thanks for the update . I went crappie fishing recently and meet a fisherman I have fished with many times at Rocky Creek Barge . He asked me if I had seen Benbrook lately , I told him it had been over a month now.

He gave me a verbal decription that matches the map you have supplied to a tee. I asked him if the store at Rocky Creek was still open and he told me when he last checked it was , but the owner had to lay off his employees.

Thats so sad , all the lakes are low but Benbrook has really suffered .

Thanks for the update , I love that old lake . It is a better fishing lake than many give it credit for . Lots of big crappie in that lake and some really big bass too.

Speaking of Crappie!! Mike, when are we going out for a few slabs for the freezer? I know a spot near our usual haunts that has been known to produce. and its that time of year. I'm booked for the next few weekends but maybe after the Fork tourney we can go find some dinner. Unless you have time for an after work trip one day.

A friend who works for the USGS described how Benbrook Lake (BL) is used as both a supply lake and a "receiving" lake. Most people know that water from BL keeps the Clear Fort of the Trinity flowing, but my friend told me that water is currently being pumped out of BL into Eagle Mountain Lake. However, water is also being pumped into BL from a lake somewhere east of Dallas (can't remember the name). So, the upshot of all this is that BL's levels are affected by a lot more than just rain and evaporation.

Cedar Creek? lol. That old road/ traintracks is an excellent place to load up on crappie....lol. Been a secret for a pretty good time. If you have a handheld GPS go mark the spots where it is broken- those are the magical spots.

~~Big crappie....I let a 3.5 lb crappie back in april. Right in front of everyone fishing on the bank.....I was fishin a brushpile that is probably out of water right now....down by the dam.

Not the most popular lake in the state but with
5 inches of rain last week here and up the creek
Lake Graham has water going over the spillway
and is still about 5 inches above full, Looks
great to me and I have been catching Largemouth
Crappie, Sand Bass and Channel Cat off my dock
Haven't been out in the boat to look it over yet
but I may do that in the morning, I have been
here 3 years and seen the lake at its lowest and
highest for the last 18 years, the high water
sure looks good.

Found a website with DFW photo maps from 1999. A good way to see what will happen if we don't get rain in the next few months I think. Also a good way to see where the shallow parts of any DFW lake are. This link below shows how the north part of Lake Dallas pretty much dried up.

http://www.dfwmaps.com/index.asp?extentl...=& Zoomby=7

I saw where a few folks were talking about lake levels. In an effor to make it easy to figure out how low lakes are, I added some links to retrieve normal level and current level info with just one click. This is in addition to the lake maps that I already have online. Click on the link below and scroll down to see the links.

Lewisville is actually almost 9 feet low at this time. They dropped the lake another 2 feet in the last two weeks. Got to keep water moving in the trinity.

Why would they want to keep dumping water down the Trinity right now? All of that water goes to Lake Livingston which they're trying to keep low while they work on the dam. You would think they would want to retain as much water as they could in the northern lakes along the Trinity while they do this.

OF COURSE WE GOT NOTHING FROM RITA IN THE WINNSBORO AREA. LAKE WINNSBORO IS EXTREEMLY LOW JUST LIKE MOST NORTH AND EAST TEXAS LAKES.PRAY FOR RAIN.

they are all low, guess we will have to start fishing in new orleans..

Sidewinder,

Thanks for that link. That site is terrific. I had used the ACE site and Sabine River Authority sites before, but this site has great data and graphs created realtime in one place. Here are a couple of my quick takeaways for my two favorite local lakes. Lewisville is currently dropping at the rate of 3 inches a week. Tawakoni is dropping at the rate of 2 inches a week currently.

I was out at Joe Pool this morning and it seems as if the lake lavel has risen. Dunno how, cause for over a month now it seems the it goes down from day to day. Anyon e else see the same thing or am I having a flash back from the 80's